HEMET – The law of averages might catch up with the Tahquitz Titans. But that will have to be for another day.

For now, the Titans are moving on in the CIF-SS Division 5 boys soccer playoffs after a late goal Thursday lifted them to a 1-0, first-round victory over Ontario.

Tahquitz (16-5-2) will travel to Desert Hot Springs on Saturday.

All afternoon, the big scoring chance belonged mostly to Ontario (10-7-4), but the Jaguars misfired on most and saw Hemet keeper Ricky Cabrera come up big on the rest. Ontario outshot Tahquitz 18-10 and had an even wider margin on Grade A chances.

“They had a lot of good chances,” Tahquitz coach Hugo Gorosave. “Statistically, one of those is probably going to go in.”

The only goal that did go in came in the 79th minute after the game had taken a different turn.

In the 78th minute, a loose ball in front of the Ontario goal led to a collision between Tahquitz’s Luis Reyes and Ontario keeper Jonathan Valdez. Reyes went flying and came up limping, but Valdez, caught at an awkward angle as he went low for the ball, took the worst of it. He sustained a hip injury serious enough to require an ambulance being called to take him from the field, leading to a 30-minute delay.

Almost immediately after the game resumed, Tahquitz put the pressure on. Ontario turned away the first chance but failed to clear the ball. It settled at the feet of Tahquitz captain Daniel Fregoso, who placed his shot perfectly high to left side of the net.

“I really thought we were going to overtime,” Fregoso said. “But we just said to push the ball forward. It bounced to me and I felt like I had enough time to make a good shot.”

In the three minutes of stoppage time, Ontario had two more huge opportunities, but Alexis Gomez missed an open net from a tough angle and a header from Carlos Flores went wide.

“I felt like we dominated the game,” Ontario coach Harry Cruz said. “We had way more chances all day. But that’s the way this sport goes sometimes. You can dominate for 90 percent of the game and end up losing.”

Gorosave said his team will need to find a way to tighten up the defensive gaps that created so many opportunities for the Jaguars. He said the week’s layoff after the regular season might have led to some tired legs.

“We play a 4-3-3 and we need some help from the midfield,” he said. “We need to get one additional defender down there who hopefully isn’t exhausted.”